Rangers expecting to be road warriors against Flyers

NEW YORK – The Rangers won a franchise-record 25 road games in the regular season but lost both games in Philadelphia.

They’ll now have to win there at least once in order to move past the Flyers in their Eastern Conference first-round series, which is tied at 1 heading into tonight’s pivotal Game 3 at the Wells Fargo Center. The Flyers also host Game 4 on Friday night.

"I think they come out a little different [at home] but it’s just two games," said left wing Brian Boyle after the Rangers’ optional practice at Madison Square Garden on Monday. "They play well in front of their fans. It’s going to be a pretty fun atmosphere. We’re a pretty good road team."

The Rangers blew a two-goal lead and lost Sunday’s Game 2, 4-2, at the Garden. Once again, they will face Flyers backup Ray Emery, who stopped the last 29 shots he faced in the victory. Emery, making his third straight start after not starting back-to-back games during the regular season, is subbing for the injured Steve Mason (upper body injury).

The Rangers want to create more traffic in front of Emery and reduce their turnovers after maintaining puck-possession dominance in their 4-1 win in Game 1.

"They were probably a little more desperate than we were for some reason," Rangers center Brad Richards said of Game 2. "They felt like they had to win that game. For some reason, after we got up 2-0, we maybe let off a touch."

"Their building is a tough place to play and we know ours is maybe even tougher," said Emery after the Flyers’ practice in Voorhees. "We know ours is maybe even tougher than theirs. Our fans are pretty wild and we’re pretty comfortable there."

The Rangers and Flyers split their four regular-season games with the Rangers losing at Philadelphia, 2-1, on Oct. 24 – part of a 3-6-0 road trip to start the season – and 4-2 on March 1.

"They’re going to come out hard, we need to match it," Boyle said. "Usually, that’s not a great start if you’re not ready for that kind of intensity. But we will be."

As the road team, coach Alain Vigneault, who doesn’t necessarily look to match lines, will have to work harder to get his top defensive pair of Ryan McDonagh and Dan Girardi on the ice against the Flyers’ top line of Claude Giroux centering Scott Hartnell and Jakub Voracek.

"If you look at our road record, we have that record because we continue to play the same way, the high-tempo, north-south game," Vigneault said.

Still, Game 2 was much chippier than Game 1, with more after-the-whistle bumping.

The Rangers have had six power plays in each game, scoring twice with the man advantage in Game 1 and once in their Game 2 defeat.

"Let’s just say we don’t want to give them six power plays a game, we’ve got to be better," Flyers coach Craig Berube said. "You are going to get penalties. You can’t take emotional, dumb ones and careless penalties. They are going to hurt you."

BRIEFS: Right wing Mats Zuccarello said his diving penalty in Game 2 – the Rangers also had one called on right wing Derek Dorsett – was a bad call. "It’s fast hockey and the ref makes mistakes like we do," Zuccarello said. "I think everybody who watches me play knows I’m not a diver.’’ … Vigneault said left wing Chris Kreider (left hand/out indefinitely) was "improving.’’ … Mason participated in the Flyers’ practice but said he was not ready to play or serve as Emery’s backup. "We’re closer and closer to 100 percent every day," said Mason, suspected of suffering either a concussion or whiplash at Pittsburgh on April 12.